: The Water Resources Department has issued an order sanctioning ₹10 crore for desilting of Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) canals in Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts.
A total of 154 repair works are to be undertaken with the amount that was promised by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin during his visit to Tiruppur district earlier this year, in deference to the demands raised by irrigation association leaders.
The amount will be used to clear dense vegetation along the bed and side slopes of the earthern slopes, to rectify conveyance efficiency of the water velocity in the main canal, branch canals, distributaries, and sub-distributaries till the tail-end.
According to farmers in the tail-end areas in Vellakovil-Kangayam belt, a special order for sanction of funds to maintain the canals, which ought to be a usual practice, was uncalled for.
There was no allotment for maintenance for the last four years, despite the persistent pleas of water users’ associations. The purported maintenance carried out with the MNREGA workforce was devoid of any purpose since tough tasks of clearing bushes and desiltation do not fall in the ambit, P. Velusamy, president of PAP Vellakovil Branch Canal Water Conservation Association said.
Ideally, maintenance funds must be sanctioned once in six months. The one-time sanction of ₹10 crore was more of an eyewash, he said.
Published – December 06, 2025 09:25 pm IST
